NEW YORK – September 14, 2013 – Counsel Michael P. Hartman in Mavronicolas Mueller & Dee LLP’s New York office has been named to New York Metro Super Lawyers for 2013. Mr. Hartman was voted by his peers and vetted by researchers as among the top five percent of lawyers practicing in New York City for their professional achievement, excellence in the practice of law, and high degree of peer recognition. The patented Super Lawyers selection process evaluates attorneys based on 12 indicators, including representative clients, experiences, special licenses and certifications, transactions, verdicts, and others. Then peers vote on attorneys within their same practice areas across a particular state or geographic area, in this case, New York City. Mr. Hartman’s practice focuses on commercial litigation, real estate litigation, and intellectual property matters.

On Thursday, May 17, 2012, the US Department of Interior Thursday issued the final notice for an oil and gas lease sale to be held on June 20 at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Interior will make available all unleased areas in the Central Gulf of Mexico for a total of more than 38 million acres offshore Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) estimates the sale could lead to the production of more than one billion barrels of oil and more than 4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. According to Interior, the 7,276 blocks for sale are located from 3 miles to 230 miles offshore, in water depths from 9 feet to 11,115 feet in the Central Gulf of Mexico, a region that BOEM estimates contains approximately 31 billion barrels of oil and 134 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that are undiscovered and recoverable.

The Final Notice of Sale package (see: http://www.boem.gov/sale-216-222/) describes all terms and conditions for Central Gulf Lease Sale 216-222. According to Interior, "these include a range of incentives that encourage prompt development and ensure a fair return to taxpayers”, as described in a recent report by Interior on the status of Oil and Gas Lease Utilization. These measures include escalating rental rates and tiered durational terms with relatively short base periods followed by additional time under the same lease if the operator drills a well during the initial period.

BOEM also increased the minimum bid in deepwater to $100 per acre, up from only $37.50 per acre ... (continued)

On Monday, May 14, the U.S. Department of the Interior (Bureau for Ocean Energy Management) determined that a Google Inc. backed transmission line project to connect East Coast wind farms to the electrical grid faced no land use competition for the Outer Continental Shelf land in the mid-Atlantic, removing a regulatory hurdle for the project developers Atlantic Grid Holdings LLC. The Atlantic Wind Connection project involves building a proposed transmission line spanning from Virginia to New York, which would serve as the United States principal transmission line for offshore energy. The undersea line would have collecting capacity of up to 7,000 megawatts of power from future East Coast wind farms, which the line would in turn deliver to the power grid.

Atlantic Grid Holdings LLC plans to construct the transmission line in multiple phases over the next decade about 15 miles offshore under the sea. The line will take advantage of state-of-the-art underground transmission technology instead of unsightly high-voltage towers, lending aesthetic appeal to the project. This decision allows the domestic offshore wind industry to plan for a backbone transmission system. Furthermore, the 790-mile line will likely help stimulate the industry, which is currently facing financial uncertainty in the face of a potential expiration of major tax credits later this year.

Monday's determination allows the agency to begin its environmental review of the project. In addition to Google Inc, other major investors in the project include Elia Group, Good Energies II LP and Marubenai Corp. Google has praised the project as a means to help states meet renewable energy goals and to speed up the deployment of clean energy.

For the full text of the decision, or if you would like to learn more about our maritime and offshore energy practices, please contact Michael P ... (continued)

A recent May 1, 2012 Executive Order now targets foreign individuals and entities that have violated, attempted to violate, conspired to violate, or caused a violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran or Syria, or that have facilitated deceptive transactions for persons subject to U.S. sanctions concerning Syria or Iran. As such, The Department of Treasury can now identify foreign individuals and entities that have engaged in these evasive and deceptive activities, and prevent them from having access to the U.S. financial and commercial systems. This now imposes serious consequences on foreign persons who seek to evade U.S. sanction programs regarding both Iran and Syria.

Upon identification of foreign sanction evaders, U.S. persons will be prohibited from providing to, or procuring from, the sanctioned party goods, services, or technology, effectively cutting the evader off from the U.S. marketplace. This represents another broad-based step taken by the U.S. to target the governments of Iran and Syria.

Given the potential volatility in U.S. foreign policy the latest sanction regulations and updates should be consulted before considering transactions involving interests in or related to Iran or Syria. Mavronicolas Mueller & Dee LLP works with clients engaged in international trade to protect them against such violations.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently issued a decision narrowly interpreting an arbitration clause contained in a salvage contract in Cape Flattery Ltd v. Titan Maritime, LLC, No. 09-15682, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 15360 (9th Cir. July 26, 2011). In CapeFlattery, a shipowner contracted with a salvage company to remove a stranded vessel from a reef. When removing the vessel the salvor allegedly damaged the reef. The U.S. government sought damages under federal law from the shipowner, who then filed suit in federal court in Hawaii seeking indemnity from the salvor for the damages sought by the government.

The salvor filed a motion to compel arbitration based on the following clause in the salvage contract:

Any dispute arising under this Agreement shall be settled by arbitration in London, England, in accordance with the English Arbitration Act 1996 and any amendments thereto, English law and practice to apply.

The District Court denied the motion, holding that, under federal arbitrability law, the scope of the arbitration clause did not cover the shipowner’s claim for indemnity ... (continued)